lunken



H m d 1. 6 E. H. LUNKEN.

STRAIGHTWAY VALVE.

' Patented Nov. 24, 1896.

a. A V 7/ i UNITED STATES PATENT rrion.

EDMUND II. LUNKEN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE LUNKEN- IIEIMER CQMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STRAIG HTWAY VALVE.

SPECIFICATION for iningpart of Letters Patent No. 571,880, dated November 24, 1896.

Application filed August 18, 1894. Serial No. 520,665. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND I'I. LUNKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Straightway Valves, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates more particularly to the style of valve shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 523,537, granted me July 24, 1894, but is applicable to other forms and styles of straightway valves as well;

It consists, first, in novel means for coupling the valve-stem to the valve'disk, by which frictional wear between the parts in the turning of the stem to open and close the valve is reduced to a minimum, and, second, in the provision of novel means for effecting a permanently tight joint between the body and the bonnet or hood of the casing.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an elevation of'one side of the valve; Fig. 2, a vertical section through the middle of the valve in line with the passage through the same; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail of the valvedisk and lower end of the valvestem, showing the means for coupling the stem to the disk; Fig. 4c, a plan view of the top-of the body of the casing, showing the groove for the packing-wire interposed between the honnet and body of the casing; and Fig. 5, a sectional detail view showing in cross-section the shape of the wire before the bonnet of the casing has been clamped in position to compress the wire and eiiect a tight joint.

The same letters of reference are used to indicate identical parts in all the figures.

The general construction and mode of operation of the valve having been illustrated and described in detail in my aforesaid patcut, as well as in several other prior patents granted me, a brief description of what is old will be suilicient here for an explanation of my present invention.

As shown in Fig. l, A is the body of the casing, having the two opposite interior-lythreaded pipe connections B B; C, the honnet or hood resting thereon and clamped thereto by the nuts D D upon the ends of the tie-clip E, surrounding the body A and passing at its ends. through ears F F on the bonnetC G, the valve-stem, having the disk II coupled to its lower end and provided with a threaded portion 1, engaging threads upon the interior of the bonnet to cause the turnin g of the stem to raise and lower the disk; J, the stufling-box upon the upper end of the tubular neck of the bonnet 0, through which the stem G passes; K, the hand-wheel fast upon the upper end of the stem for turning it; L. the renewable seat for the disk, screwed into the body of the casing at the inner end of one of the pipe connections; M, the wedging-piece for forcing the disk against said seat when it is 10 wcred by turning the valvestem; N, the auxiliary passage or lay-pass through the disk, and O the adjustable member seated in the disk at the upper end of the passage N and cooperating with the lower end of the valve-stem G.

In the valve shown in my aforesaid patent the portion of the stem G immediately below the threaded portion I was cut away, forming a neck of less diameter than the body of the stern, while below such neck at the end of the stem there was formed an integral circular disk or flange which fitted between lugs upon the upper side of the disk and by which the disk and stem were coupled together. \Vhen the stem was turned to lift the disk, the upper side of the flange would engage the under sides of the overlapping lugs on the disk and lift it, and when the stem was turned to lower the disk, the lower side of the flange or circular disk would bear against the upper side of the adjustable member 0, seated in the disk, and force the latter to its scat. flange upon the lower end of the stem, being an integral part of it, necessarily turned with it, and the friction between it and the parts engaged by it produced considerable wear, particularly in the valves of larger sizes, whose disks are generally made of iron instead of brass. The first feature of my present invention consists in a novel coupling in which the part engaging the valve-disk does notturn with the valve-stem, but is coupled thereto in such manner that it may remain stationary (in 'respect to rotation) while the stem is The l turned to raise or lower the disk. To this end, as seen in Fig. 2, the threaded portion I of the stem is provided in its under side with a central bore or recess P, screw-threaded at its lower end to receive the eXteriorly-threaded body of a flanged lock-nut Q. Fitting in the recess P is the upper end of a couplingpiece R, having a circular flange S upon its upper end, by which. it is confined in the recess P by the nut Q and coupled to the valvestem. The lower end of the coupling-piece R is provided with a smaller circular flange T, which fits in the usual recess beneath and between the lugs U upon the upper side of the valve-disk H and cooperating with the adjustable member 0. The portion of the coupling-piece R between the flanges S and T is reduced in size and suitably shaped to be held from turning by the lugs U. Under this construction the valve-stem is free to turn independently of the coupling-piece R, and the latter may remain stationary in relation to the disk, (except its slight vertical movement to open and close the by-pass N,) all the wear being borne by the flange S and lock-nut Q at the upper end of the coupling-piece R. In this manner all friction and wear between the valve-stem and disk are entirely obviated, and the disk may be made of iron and the stem of brass, or of iron or steel, as desired.

The thread upon the lock-nut Q is a lefthand one, and that in the recess 1 to correspond, for the following purpose: The thread upon the portion I of the valve-stem and in the bonnet 0 being right-hand ones, the stem is turned to the right to lower the disk and force it to the seat, and to the left to raise it and open the valve. Now, if the thread upon the lock-nutQ were a right-hand one and the disk should be hard to raise at the first opening movement of the valve the friction between the lower side of the flange S of the coupling piece R and the upper end of the lock-nut might unscrew the latter and thereby uncouple the valve-stem and disk, but by pro viding the lock-nut with a left-hand thread such friction only tends to screw the nut tighter into the recess. On the other hand, when the valve-stem is turned to the left to force the disk downward to its scat there is no friction between the lock-nut and the flange, so that, although the nut could be turned in this direction, it has no tendency to do so.

I have stated that the threaded portion I of the valve-stem is provided with a recess in its under side. In the practical construction of the valves, at least of the larger sizes, this threaded portion consists of a separate sleeve or collar fastened upon the lower end of the stem and projecting suiiicientlybelow the same to leave a recess for the reception of the upper end of the coupling-piece R. It will of course be understood that so far as my novel coupling of the valve-stem and disk is concerned the portion I might be simply a plain collar or sleeve fast upon the stem, and

the stem be provided with threads at another point for the purpose of raising and lowering the disk, as in other styles of straightway valves.

In the valves heretofore manufactured by me under my aforesaid patents a layer of packing material, such as asbestos, was interposed between the body and bonnet of the valve-casing to effect a tight joint, but under high pressures the joint was sometimes not as perfect as desired, or, if perfect when the valve was first put into use, the nature of the material was such that continued use would sometimes cause the joint to become imperfect. So, too, the packing had to be removed, or would become displaced, every time the bonnet and body of the valve were separated to renew the valve-seat or put in a new disk or otherwise, and when the parts were assembled the packing had to be re placed in position or a new one supplied. With the valves in use and located in certain fixed positions it was sometimes an inconvenient if not a dilficult matter to replace the packing and maintain it in proper position while the bonnet and body of the valve were being secured together. In my present valve I have overcome these various objections and produced a valve having a permanently-tight joint and in which the bonnet and body may be separated and assembled at will without disturbing the packing. This I have accomplished by substituting for the asbestos or other packing material heretofore employed an annealed wire, preferably of copper, embedded in a groove in one of the abutting faces of the body and bonnet of the casing and compressed between them when the bonnet is clamped to the body by tightening up the nuts upon the U-shaped binding-clip. The wire in this instance is located in a groove in the surface of the body of the easing which abuts against the under surface of the bonnet, and the shape of the groove is shown in plan in Fig. at and of the wire and groove in cross-section in Fig. 5. As seen in the latter figure, the wire V is rolled into oval or elliptical shape in cross-section. Its adjacent ends are preferably brazed together after the wire has been bent to the shape of the groove, and the endless ring thus formed is seated in the groove in the body of the casin g before the bonnet is placed in position thereon, as seen in Fig. 5, one-half or more of the body of the wire being seated in the groove and its upper edge projecting some distance above the surface in which the groove is formed. The

bonnet is then placed in position upon the net and form a perfectly tight joint there with. The wire is of such size that it is sufficient to fill the groove when compressed, and also to project slightly above the surface to form a perfect joint with the bonnet. The groove is of such depth as to receive onehalf or more of the body of the wire when the latter is seated in it and before it is compressed, so that when the bonnet is clamped to the body of the casing the body of the wire will be readily compressed into and fill the groove and be firmly seated therein, so that the bonnet may be freely removed from the body of the casing, no matter in what position the valve may be, without danger of the packing becoming displaced. This is quite desirable owing to the various positions in which valves are placed in use, since otherwise the packing would be liable to drop out of position as soon as the bonnet was removed.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim- 1. In a staightway valve, the combination with the rotary and longitudinally-movable valve-stem having the threaded portion engaging fixed threads in the casing, and the valve-disk operated thereby, of the swiveled coupling-piece interposed between and connecting the disk and stem, means for preventing the rotation of the coupling-piece whereby the stem may be turned to raise and lower tl diSk without turning the couplingkMpiece and friction between and wear upon the disk and stem be avoided, substantially as described.

2. In a straightway valve, the combination, with the rotary valve-stein and the disk operated thereby, of a non-rotatable couplingpiece R interposed between and connecting them, said piece having a projecting flange at each end, the lower one fitting in a recess in the upper side of the disk and the upper one fitting in a recess in the lower end of the valve-stem and confined therein, and the valve-stem adapted to rotate independent of the coupling-piece substantially as described.

3. In a straightway valve, the combination, with the rotary valve-stem having the interiorly-threaded recess in its lower end, and the disk operated by the stern, of the coupling-piece R interposed between them and having a flange at its lower end fitting in a recess in the upper side of the disk and with a second flange at its upper end fitting in the recess in the lower end of the valve-stem, and the lock-nut Q having left-hand threads screwed into the recess in the stem and confining the upper end of the coupling-piece therein, and means for preventing the rotation of the coupling'pieoe substantially as described.

EDMUN D H. LUNKEN.

Nitnesses WM. H. MUENCH, G. F. LUNKENHEIMER. 

